Bug 610868

Summary: Pulseaudio consumes over 95% of CPU
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Reporter: Eduard Benes <ebenes>
Component: pulseaudioAssignee: Wim Taymans <wtaymans>
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG QA Contact: Desktop QE <desktop-qa-list>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: 6.0CC: syeghiay, tvvcox, twaugh, wtaymans
Target Milestone: rc   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2015-01-20 08:44:44 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 840699    
Attachments:
Description Flags
alsa-info --no-upload none

Description Eduard Benes 2010-07-02 16:10:09 UTC 
Description of problem:
While listening to online radio stream (ogg) in rhythmbox the reproduction stops occasionally (like once per hour) and the top shows:
<snip>
  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
11038 estragon  20   0  489m  15m  14m S 99.3  0.8  23:00.03 pulseaudio 
</snip>

and /var/log/messages goes like:
<snip>
Jul  2 17:52:59 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 210 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:05 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 214 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:10 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 208 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:15 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 214 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:20 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 212 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:25 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 214 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:30 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 211 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:35 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 209 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:40 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 213 events suppressed
Jul  2 17:53:45 godot pulseaudio[11038]: ratelimit.c: 31518 events suppressed
</snip>

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
pulseaudio-0.9.21-11.el6.x86_64

How reproducible:
Randomly

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Listen to some music (online stream) with rythmbox
2.
3.
  
Actual results:
The playback stops after some time randomly using over 95% of the CPU for a minute or two

Expected results:
Continual playback without that huge CPU usage

Additional info:
Laptop Lenovo T60
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
Comment 1 RHEL Program Management 2010-07-15 15:16:08 UTC 
This issue has been proposed when we are only considering blocker
issues in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. It has
been denied for the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.

** If you would still like this issue considered for the current
release, ask your support representative to file as a blocker on
your behalf. Otherwise ask that it be considered for the next
Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. **
Comment 2 Tomas Von Veschler 2010-07-31 11:48:32 UTC 
Created attachment 435747 [details]
alsa-info --no-upload
Comment 3 Tomas Von Veschler 2010-07-31 11:52:05 UTC 
I get the same behaviour after playing 5-10 minutes of flash videos. It's fairly easy to reproduce.

Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 18446744073709548828 bytes (418293516394 ms).
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_dump():
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Soft volume PCM
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Control: PCM Playback Volume
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: min_dB: -51
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: max_dB: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: resolution: 256
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Its setup is:
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stream       : PLAYBACK
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   format       : S16_LE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   subformat    : STD
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   channels     : 2
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   rate         : 44100
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   msbits       : 16
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   buffer_size  : 16384
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_size  : 8192
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_time  : 185759
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_step  : 1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   avail_min    : 15944
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_event : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   start_threshold  : -1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stop_threshold   : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_threshold: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_size : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Slave: Hardware PCM card 0 'HDA Intel' device 0 subdevice 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Its setup is:
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stream       : PLAYBACK
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   format       : S16_LE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   subformat    : STD
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   channels     : 2
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   rate         : 44100
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   msbits       : 16
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   buffer_size  : 16384
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_size  : 8192
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_time  : 185759
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_step  : 1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   avail_min    : 15944
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_event : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   start_threshold  : -1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stop_threshold   : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_threshold: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_size : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   appl_ptr     : 31572666
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   hw_ptr       : 31555585
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_delay() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 349128 bytes (1979 ms).
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_hda_intel'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_dump():
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Soft volume PCM
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Control: PCM Playback Volume
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: min_dB: -51
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: max_dB: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: resolution: 256
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Its setup is:
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stream       : PLAYBACK
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   format       : S16_LE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   subformat    : STD
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   channels     : 2
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   rate         : 44100
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   msbits       : 16
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   buffer_size  : 16384
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_size  : 8192
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_time  : 185759
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_step  : 1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   avail_min    : 15944
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_event : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   start_threshold  : -1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stop_threshold   : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_threshold: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_size : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Slave: Hardware PCM card 0 'HDA Intel' device 0 subdevice 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c: Its setup is:
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stream       : PLAYBACK
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   format       : S16_LE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   subformat    : STD
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   channels     : 2
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   rate         : 44100
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   msbits       : 16
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   buffer_size  : 16384
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_size  : 8192
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_time  : 185759
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_step  : 1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   avail_min    : 15944
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   period_event : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   start_threshold  : -1
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   stop_threshold   : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_threshold: 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   silence_size : 0
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   boundary     : 4611686018427387904
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   appl_ptr     : 31643226
Jul 31 13:36:05 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: alsa-util.c:   hw_ptr       : 31555944
Jul 31 13:36:10 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 110283 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:15 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 105518 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:20 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 109544 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:25 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 110386 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:30 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 108670 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:35 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 108619 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:40 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 109492 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:45 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 111812 events suppressed
Jul 31 13:36:50 redhat pulseaudio[2453]: ratelimit.c: 105410 events suppressed

After this pulseaudio starts consuming 140% CPU until I kill -9 it. Comment#2 has the alsa-info output.
Comment 4 Tomas Von Veschler 2010-09-09 17:39:15 UTC 
After upgrading to RHEL6 snap13, I'm not longer hitting this issue.
Comment 6 Eduard Benes 2012-09-24 13:54:23 UTC 
Unfortunately I don't have the T60 available any more to reproduce/verify the bug and I don't see it on my new HW anymore. Therefore I think we can close the bug if there are no more reports about this issues. Thanks.
Comment 7 RHEL Program Management 2013-10-14 01:19:20 UTC 
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for
inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated
in the current release, Red Hat is unable to address this
request at this time.

Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to
propose this request, if appropriate, in the next release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Comment 8 Wim Taymans 2014-01-29 13:52:54 UTC 
*** Bug 601177 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Wim Taymans 2015-01-20 08:44:44 UTC 
Closing based on comment 4
Comment 10 Red Hat Bugzilla 2023-09-14 01:21:38 UTC 
The needinfo request[s] on this closed bug have been removed as they have been unresolved for 1000 days